Launching the first in what would become a series of fake news salvos, the Washington Postpublished a story full of baseless, unsubstantiated allegations made by a shady organization no one had ever heard of that Russian intelligence fed information to hundreds of “alt-right” web sites aimed at hurting Clinton and helping Trump.

Among the named sites: Natural News, which prompted founder/editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, to demand a retraction.

The Post, within a day, essentially did that, all but admitting that its fake news story about fake Russian news…was fake. But the die had been cast and the Post put the narrative in play: Without proof or any evidence, the paper claimed (and others followed) that Russia unduly influenced the election outcome for Trump because Moscow hated Clinton and anyway, that’s the only way she could possibly have lost to a former reality TV host and billionaire real estate mogul non-politician.

Now, we find out that the real recipient of Russian largess is…the Washington Post.